The introspective track asks "Who's keeping me from the top? It's Me.  What keeps me punching the clock? It's Me... In the end I have to face Me."

Ugly Heroes continue to connect with listeners through their self-titled debut album.  As they begin booking their fall and winter tour schedule, Apollo Brown and company wanted to drop one of their non-album bonus cuts on everyone.  Red Pill & Verbal Kent both deliver heart felt vocal performances, while Apollo Brown mixes things up for a minute giving us some double-time hi-hats to go with his snares.

Ugly Heroes - Me (Apollo Brown, Verbal Kent, Red Pill)

“We searched high and wide, far and low, and we got all the butters here. This is the best of the independent that came out.” – Mr. Dave

“Haze Presents NY Reality Check 101” came along at an ideal time in my life. I was already a hip-hop writer, a college radio show host and a (really lousy) disc jockey who was married to the elements. There was no “I USED to Love H.E.R.” in my life — I had been smitten in my pre-teen years and that love only grew in my teens and 20’s. It was not an easy relationship though living in a very rural part of America. Without magazines like The Source, newsgroups like rec.music.hip-hop, and friendly record store managers (whattup Dean) who would place special orders for me, I’d have been ass out trying to keep up with the scene. “NY Reality Check 101” was one such order in December ’97. You weren’t going to find this album at Walmart.

It’s amazing how an album that was transformative and revelatory to me in the late 1990’s has vanished without a trace a little over 20 years later. You can find an entry here or there with artwork or a release date, but scant little discussion of how amazing this CD was. In a way having a college friend from Philadelphia (whattup Ron) prepared me well for its arrival. It was through him that I got my exposure to the mixtape scene, so I was already listening to compilations from Ron G, Kid Capri and DJ Premier, “P-P-P-Premier” of Gang Starr fame among others. The latter is the man behind the wheels here, and although it’s Haze that “Presents” this mixtape, his presence is basically non-existent. Primo is the one who mixes, blends, juggles and doubles the tracks, scratching up a bevy of what Dave Sumpter a/k/a Mr. Dave aptly described as “the butters” of underground rap.

To this day Primo’s slice and dice of Bigg Jus saying “Bugged like Rwanda” over and over for the intro of Company Flow’s “8 Steps to Perfection” makes the hairs on my arms stand up. “Reality Check 101” was when I discovered Company Flow and by extension Rawkus Records, and hearing it again reminds me of that incredible feeling. Yeah eventually Ron or someone in the know would have hipped me to CoFlow if it weren’t for this CD, but the butter is just spread so smoothly here that I have to toast Premier. If you try listening to this on Spotify or YouTube it’s really not going to do it justice with the buffering, commercial breaks and constant interruptions. The way Primo flowed the song into “Changes” by Shades of Brooklyn made me a huge fan of BOTH acts. You better believe I was immediately trying to cop twelve inch singles for each one.

Read more Here:  http://www.rapreviews.com/2020/10/haze-presents-new-york-reality-check-101-mixed-by-dj-premier/




Dj Premier - New York Reality Check 101
01. DJ Premier - Intro ft Mr. Dave
02. Braggin' Writes [J-Live]
03. Break It Down [Brainwash]
04. Off Balance [Laster]
05. Head Over Wheels [G-Depp]
06. DJ Premier - Skit
07. Lyrical Tactics [Natural Elements]
08. 8 Steps To Perfection [Company Flow]
09. Change [Shades of Brooklyn]
10. Too Complete [L The Head Toucha]
11. Intro 2
12. Metal Thangz [Street Smartz]
13. Inner City Blues [Rezidue]
14. Properties of Steel [Godfather Don]
15. Mixmaster [Brainsick Mob]
16. 21 Years [Choclair]
17. DJ Premier - Outro
18. Feel The High Pt. 2 [Finsta Bundy]

New York Reality Check 101

03. Break It Down [Brainwash]

Vinnie Paz - Koresh Babylon

You can show support and get the track here (all contributions will be put back into the music, making shirts, promo etc): 
https://benefitofficial.bandcamp.com/track/word-of-mouth

Produced by Benefit. All sounds were created using vintage instruments played by Benefit and recorded to analog tape.

Follow Benefit:
facebook.com/OfficiallyBenefit
twitter.com/BenefitOfficial
instagram.com/benefitofficial
youtube.com/user/OfficiallyBenefit
http://benefitofficial.com

About the song: 
Story track about a neglected kid who listens to weak corporate music on the radio because he doesn't know any better, and then his friend puts him on to underground music and explains why he loves his favorite underground artist. It's a story track about how the truth, through underground music, spreads by word of mouth.

Lyrics:
I make the dirty beat on Tape With the warble and the flutter 
and spit it for the poor kid starving in the gutter 
who never had love from his father nor his mother 
so he’s probably going to grow up robbing from his brother 
never taught to respect the truth 
now he’s home by himself just a neglected youth 
and he’s turning on the radio to bump it alone 
and listen to the music these companies pump in his home 
now he’s sunk in the zone, absorbing every single word 
that sunk in his dome, his dad’s drunk and he’s gone 
so how is he supposed to know what’s right from wrong 
and know that these guys lie when they’re writing their song 
and know that the rich use it dividing the strong? 
he won’t know it, he’s just bobbing his head riding along 
just then, he hears a knock on his door 
his friend’s coming to pick him up to stop at the store 
now this bigger fellow’s going to pick up some cigarillos 
pressing the gas with his velcro shell toes 
in the car he notices a track playing and he starts paying 
attention to what the rap's saying 
“Hey yo man this is ill, who is this?” 
“it’s Benefit” “Benefit? Who’s Benefit?” 
“Benefit’s the dopest in the history of music on earth 
kicking rappers out the game for abusing the turf 
and you should listen again if it’s confusing at first 
you’re not used to the fusion of flow with the views interspersed 
so many dead emcees after he’s using his verse 
he should get a side hustle and just cruise in a hearse 
music’s a drug, he’s got them abusing it worse 
than the fiend at the shop pawning her shoes and her purse 
his style’s explosive like a missile dropped bomb 
want the truth? go to benefitofficial.com”

Benefit - Word of Mouth

Life (Remix)

The Grimy Awards (Deluxe Edition)

World Premier

Starvin B ft Tesla's Ghost "HAZARD LANE"(prod EyeDee)

Legendary Classics, Vol. 1

Renaissance 2.0

All My Heroes Are Dead

Sean riP (Interlude) [feat. Shaun P]

Made this joint for Russell Peter's "Live From the O2 Arena" Dvd. Peep video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqJr4oEDKbU

Masta Ace f. Wordsworth "I Refuse" (Prod. by Marco Polo)

from the Album Ugly Heroes (5/28)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ugly-heroes/id640931667



Ugly Heroes (Apollo Brown, Verbal Kent, Red Pill)-Ugly (Bonus Track)

Chris 83150

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